Chapter 1234: Riddle

—Water?

The dorm keeper seemed to be in a good mood. She nodded with a smile. “Not the water in our everyday life, but the water of the eternal river in mythology. It’s the essence of the world and the origin of everything.”

—I don’t get it.

“The philosopher believes that everything is sentient. The world isn’t simply a random combination and accumulation of countless isolated entities, but under one single rule—the rule of the great God. God gives rise to all creations, existence, and operations. They are not to be seen yet omnipresent, just like the eternal river that never ceases.”

—What are you getting at?

“Well, we have time. Just want a chat. Do you believe in God, Gao Yang?”

—I don’t know.

𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

“I don’t know, either. But something’s been bothering me.”

—What?

“See. Humans have never seen God. Why do humans believe in God?”

—The textbooks say that humans try to rationalize what they do not understand. That’s where the earliest mythology came from.

“Then why God rather than something else?”

“Like what?”

“Well, in the past, humans believed a great disaster to be punishment inflicted by God. Why didn’t they suspect another human with greater power to be responsible? Or any other reason? Why did they all believe an omnipotent god to be behind it?”

—I think I’m getting your point.

“Gao Yang, humans are fated to meet their doom since birth. Humans are short-living, fragile, lost, and confused yet stubborn beings. Why do such an existence believe that the world is under the control of an eternal, absolute, omniscient, and omnipotent supreme god?”

—You’re asking why a blind man who’s never seen light believes there to be light in the world. He shouldn’t even come up with the idea.

“Yes, that’s what I mean.”

—Do you have an answer?

“No, but I’ve had guesses.”

—Do tell.

“One possibility is that someone actually saw God. That’s straightforward. With one blind person having seen light, the other blind people will know that there is such a thing as light, too.”

—Yeah.

“Or maybe God exists in the human hearts. Or let’s say that humans are part of God.”

—A blind man knows about light without seeing it because he came from light.

“Yeah. What do you think?”

—Dunno. I rarely indulge in such musings.

“You should sometimes.”

—If there is a god, I’d like to meet Them and ask why They would make the world this way. Why ask the blind to look for light?

“I’ve had the thought before, but sometimes I got scared.”

—Of what?

“I’m scared that there is no God. What if this is just the way the world is? What if blind people did not come from light, and there is no light in the world to begin with? Wouldn’t it be absurd then for the blind to believe in light and seek it out? Why would the blind have such a desire? What have they been chasing?”

—I don’t know.

“Funny, I don’t either.”

Gao Yang flapped his wings and perched on her shoulder. They looked at the same landscape and watched over the river. None of them said anything else.

Time ceased to exist.

Time was a construct humans came up with to differentiate between a moment and an eternity. It embodied life, feelings, and meanings that humans depended on for their existence.

None of those things had a place here.

Time didn’t exist.

The two of them slowly became part of the tree.

...

“You should go, Gao Yang.”

Finally, the dorm keeper spoke again. Time returned. Gao Yang’s darkened, dulled body gradually recovered the warmth of a passing life.

—So I don’t belong here.

“It’s a little sudden, Gao Yang, but it’s time to say goodbye.”

—Where are you going?

“Nowhere. I’ll be waiting for you here.”

—I’ll come back?

“I don’t know. But if you do, we’ll have a good chat then.”

—We can do that now.

“Some conversations are better done in text. Some better done in speech. And some better in person.”

—Everyone around me is always talking in riddles.

“Can it be that we speak in riddles because you are a riddle?”

—I’m not arguing with you.

“Goodbye, Gao Yang. May the odds be with you.”

...

Li City, December.

Lamb Room of the underground sixth floor, Millennium Tower, Daxu District.

Soft light illuminated the well-equipped specialized care ward and its clear air. A thin, pale young man with black hair lay on the medical bed. He had been in a long coma.

“One, two, three. Two, two, three. Three, two, three. Four, two, three...”

A small mirror sat on the nightstand, and a finger-sized girl danced before it. She was dressed in fitted dance clothes. Her grey-purple hair, reaching her shoulders, was tied into braids. She practiced while counting the beats.

She stopped halfway. She had come up with a better move. Lifting her chin slightly, she moved her left foot slightly forward and tapped the floor with the tip. She extended her right hand with the fingers upcurved, as if an empress were asking her kneeling subjects to kiss the back of her hand.

“Good!” Nainai’s eyes shone with excitement as she repeated the motion. “So elegant. Remember that!”

It would be the new year in a month. Vermilion Bird organized a gathering for the awakeners and the ex-awakeners. Naturally, there should be performances.

Very few volunteered, so they had to draw lots. Nainai, unfortunately, drew one of the short straws.

Nainai was going to perform the Empress’ Judgment—no one knew what that would entail, only that it must be quite

chuuni

.

Citrus, Ting Ting, and Quiet Book fell to the same fate. They asked Nainai for help and showered her with pleas to the empress. They implored Empress Nainai to mercifully create a simple choreography they could all dance to. That would count as their performance.

Facing such earnest pleas to

“Your Majesty the Empress”

, Nainai couldn’t say no. She agreed to replace Empress’ Judgment with Empress’ Descent and included the three women.

They were running out of time. Nainai had to create a different dance routine. The moves couldn’t be too difficult, but they had to emphasize Nainai’s grace and authority. At the same time, she had to take into consideration their differences and their collective synergy. It was a challenge.

Nainai was satisfied with her part of the dance. She began to consider Quiet Book’s moves.

Quiet Book lacked a natural groove. She would have to act cute instead. Her role would be...ah, she would be the innocent girl admiring the Empress.

“One, two, three. Two, two, three. Three, two, three. Four, two, three...”

With Dancer, Nainai immediately transformed into a bright girl, dancing simple, gentle moves that brimmed with emotions, a pure smile tugging her lips.

Once she went through eight sets of moves, she suddenly shuddered.

There was...a gaze on her back.